News

State Secretary Marko Štucin took part in the Ministerial Meeting of the Central European Initiative hosted by the Bulgarian CEI Presidency in Sofia. The meeting focused on Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and the broader consequences of the war, which is having a profound negative impact on all CEI Member States. The ministers and state secretaries expressed their continued support for Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon met with Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Korea Park Byeong-seug. The meeting was devoted to discussions on ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Korea.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon met with representatives of the Slovenian national community in Austria as part of her regular contacts with Slovenians abroad. The discussion focused on outstanding issues concerning the situation of the Slovenian national community in Austria.

At today's correspondence meeting, the government amended the draft state budget for 2024, which provides additional funds for investments in road and sports infrastructure, while leaving total revenue and expenditure unchanged. It also adopted its position on the updating of the Energy Charter Treaty.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon met with representatives of the Slovenian national community in Italy. The meeting, which was aimed at exchanging views on current issues concerning the situation of the Slovenian national community in Italy, is part of the Minister’s regular dialogue with Slovenians living abroad.

At the end of October, the Government Office for Digital Transformation started implementing three projects intended to raise the level of digital competences among the young and older generations. The projects implemented together with partner organisations focused on primary and secondary school students and older residents of rural areas of Slovenia.

According to preliminary data, the state budget recorded approximately EUR 10.3 billion in revenue in the first ten months of the year, which is EUR 1.3 billion or 14.2% more than in the same period last year. Expenditure decreased by EUR 779 million or 7.3% year-on-year to approximately EUR 10.6 billion, with the budget recording a total deficit of approximately EUR 283 million in the first ten months.

During his visit to Japan from 26 to 31 October 2022, Minister of Finance Klemen Boštjančič met with Secretary of State Takahiro Inoue, with whom he discussed further cooperation between the two countries on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Slovenia and Japan.

Minister of Culture Asta Vrečko today paid a visit to the region of Kozjansko. As part of the visit, the minister and the mayors of the municipalities of Šmarje pri Jelšah, Podčetrtek and Kozje signed contracts on the co-funding of castle renovation projects worth more than EUR 3.6 million, which are included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).

In Montevideo, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon met with Carolina Ache Batlle, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. During their talks, the two high officials expressed interest in strengthening cooperation between the two countries.

Nominations related to the traditions of Lipizzan horse breeding and beekeeping in Slovenia have received a positive assessment by the Evaluation Body of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for inscription on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. A decision on inscription on the list will be made at the end of November.

We, Slovenians, are who we are because of our language. Without the Slovenian language, there would be no Slovenians. Without it, there would be no Slovenia. We celebrate Reformation Day to remind ourselves that the standard Slovenian language is the foundation of our statehood. And we owe this, above all, to Primož Trubar, the Protestant priest from Rašica, who founded our language with the first Slovenian book, the Catechism (Katekizem), and the Abecedarium (Abecednik), which was dedicated »to all young and ordinary people«.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon met Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of the Argentine Republic Santiago Cafiero in Buenos Aires. They discussed the strengthening and development of bilateral relations, cooperation in the framework of international organisations, topical global and regional issues and the strengthening of relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Due to the Reformation day the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia will be closed on 31 October.

Transgender persons are no longer to be exposed to involuntary disclosure of transgender identity in the local environment.

On October 21, 2022, the Office for Slovenes Abroad published a Public Tender for tender area B in 2023 - financial support for Slovenes around the world.

At today’s meeting by correspondence, the Government adopted the amended Decree on the salaries and other earnings of public employees working abroad and the amended Decree on salaries and other remuneration of service members of the Slovenian Armed Forces deployed abroad. The Government also adopted the opinion opposing the proposal for a consultative referendum on amending the Personal Income Tax Act.

European Commission endorsed today the Slovenian 2023-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan (SN SKP 2023–2027). This is the key agricultural policy strategic document, on which basis in the next programming period Slovenia is going to provide for long-term food security, green breakthrough, sustainable development of Slovenian agriculture, forestry, food industry, and sustainable rural development.

Prime Minister Robert Golob today visited the Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the country's largest power plant. As the Prime Minister pointed out after visiting the worksite – the Krško NPP is undergoing an overhaul – the Krško NPP is the first nuclear power plant in Europe to complete a 10-year investment cycle on this scale, following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.

The Government’s main guiding principle when adopting a series of measures against price increases is concern for everyone. The Government is aware that swift and decisive action is required at this time of high energy costs resulting from the economic recovery after the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Due to distorted price fluctuations in energy markets, the Ministry of Finance advocates for decisive action and all the enforceable measures in the field of financial markets by means of which regulated trading would be ensured in the event of stressful conditions in the market. On this note, we commend the fact that our ideas are also reflected in the proposals of the European Commission.

Between 25 and 26 October 2022, the 15th European Platform for Roma Inclusion took place in Prague. The event was attended by mag. Stanko Baluh, the Director of the Government Office for National Minorities, and two of his colleagues, as the Office also performs the tasks of the national Roma contact point.

Today, the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy officially submitted Slovenia's Cohesion Policy Programme for the period 2021-2027 to the European Commission. ''Today marks the close of an important chapter for our Government. Now, we need to make sure that the projects are up and running as soon as possible,'' said Minister Jevšek.

From 4 to 20 November, Celje and Ljubljana will be hosting the largest women’s sports event in Slovenia since the country gained its independence, together with Skopje and Podgorica – the 15th European Women’s Handball Championship.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has approved a little under €2.2 million in EU funding for a call for proposals for 2023 for providing integrated services to potential entrepreneurs and companies through supported institutions.

The second day of this year's edition of Slovenian Regional Days in Ptuj featured Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Matjaž Han, and Minister for Development and European Cohesion Policy, dr Aleksander Jevšek.

Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob today met Marijan Papež, general director of the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute, and Janez Sušnik, president of the Slovenian Federation of Pensioners’ Associations (ZDUS).

The cross-border project Right Profession and the Interreg Programme Slovenia-Hungary received a special award of the European Commission at the Interreg SLAM 2022 contest. Live performances of short-listed finalists and the award ceremony took place in Brussels today.

Minister Tanja Fajon attended the third meeting of foreign ministers of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Buenos Aires. Ministers stressed the importance of regular high-level dialogue between the EU and CELAC, and discussed matters ranging from innovations, climate change, digitalisation and security to the strengthening of democracy, the protection of human rights, and sustainable development in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In today’s session, the Government adopted the draft Act defining urgent measures to increase the income of pensioners and limit the rise in social security costs, and amended the Decree determining the price of natural gas from the system. It also issued a Decree concerning the legal succession of the Bank Asset Management Company and was briefed on the negotiating position concerning the determination and alignment of the minimum wage.

Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob received an invitation on Monday, 24 October 2022 to take part in TV Slovenija’s Tarča programme.

We hereby publish the Slovenian Government’s response to a public letter from NGOs concerning the resolution of the housing issue.

The Republic of Croatia joining the Schengen Area is supported in principle by the Republic of Slovenia and is in our common European interest.

At today’s correspondence session, the Government agreed with the proposed amendments to the draft Urgent measures to prevent the spread and mitigate the consequences of the infectious disease COVID-19 in healthcare Act.

On 25 October 2022, a joint event of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office and the Boards of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) was held in Ljubljana, for intellectual property (IP) attorneys, judges and other IP professionals.

Minister for Development and European Cohesion Policy dr Aleksander Jevšek attended a session of the Development Council of the Posavje Region at the Sevnica Castle. The discussion with the mayors of the Posavje region mainly focused on EU funding options under the next programming period.

State Secretary Samuel Žbogar, together with the newly appointed Honorary Consul of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Tetsuji Shindo, and senior representatives of national, regional and local authorities, addressed the participants at the opening ceremony of the Consulate of the Republic of Slovenia in Fukui, Japan. The Consulate will be headed by Mr Shindo. During his visit, he also participated in a business seminar on IT solutions and space technologies.

"Radioactive waste in Slovenia is stored safely and is under supervision. It is not used for making of any dirty bombs".
Sandi Viršek, Director, Slovenian Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ARAO)

Prime Minister Robert Golob met today with the President of the People's National Assembly of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Ibrahim Boughali, who is on an official visit to Slovenia. The meeting focused on energy cooperation and the establishment of strategic cooperation between the two countries, which share a historical friendship.

On 19 and 20 October 2022, Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration hosted the 24th meeting of the Working Group on Emergencies (WGE) established by the Heads of European Radiological Protection Competent Authorities (HERCA).

Today, the Prime Minister, Dr Robert Golob, held a consultation with the representatives of coalition and opposition parties and the leaders of deputy groups regarding possible amendments to the electoral legislation and other constitutional amendments for which suitable political will exists during this term of office. It was determined that the five parties could agree on certain issues.

At the invitation of Prof. Dr Franz Schausberger, former Landeshauptmann (Governor) of Salzburg, State Secretary Marko Štucin took part in a debate as part of the 18th Salzburg Europe Summit taking place on 23–25 October 2022 in Salzburg under the title "Visions for Europe: Expectations and Reality".

The election of the President of the Republic of Slovenia took place on Sunday, 23 October. The Government Communication Office participated in organising the event.

At the invitation of the Austrian Patent Office, a bilateral visit to Vienna took place on 20 October 2022, where we explored opportunities for mutual cooperation, exchanged examples of good practice and views on current developments in the field of intellectual property rights.

The ratings agency Moody's confirmed Slovenia’s credit rating as A3 and maintained its outlook at stable on Friday, 21 October 2022.

Prime Minister Robert Golob attended the European Council meeting held in Brussels on 20 and 21 October.

At the invitation of German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon took part in the Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the Berlin Process. The focus was on energy security, the green agenda, the Common Regional Market, reconciliation in the region, and a positive perspective for young people in the Western Balkans.

One year after the confirmation of Slovenia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Representation of the European Commission in Slovenia, the Slovenian Recovery and Resilience Office, and the Ministry of Infrastructure together with the Slovenian Infrastructure Agency, held the plan’s first annual event, entitled On the Road to a Green Transition. In the morning, the conference participants discussed sustainable mobility and effective energy use, while in the afternoon they had a look at the first results of the project to upgrade the Ljubljana-Divača railway line, which is being financed as part of the plan. The event was also attended by the Head of the Recovery and Resilience Task Force at the European Commission, Céline Gauer, the Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič, and Minister of Infrastructure Bojan Kumer.

State Secretary Samuel Žbogar addressed the participants at the opening ceremony of the Consulate of the Republic of Slovenia in Fukui, Japan, along with Honorary Consul of the Republic of Slovenia Tetsuji Shindo and senior representatives of national, regional and local authorities. During his visit, the State Secretary participated in a business seminar on IT solutions and space technologies.

In recent months Slovenia has called upon the European Commission and partner countries in the Western Balkans several times to align the visa regimes of countries in the region – especially Serbia – with the EU visa policy. Large numbers of illegal border crossings are now being made by nationals of third countries who have not been part of previous migration flows. These are above all being made by citizens of India, Burundi and Cuba, who entered Serbia legally and then illegally entered EU countries, including Slovenia.